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As he was holed up in a siege situation yesterday afternoon, Cherif Kouachi - partly responsible for the deaths of 17 innocent people - was interviewed by French television.
In the interview with BFMTV's Igor Sahiri he sounded calm, lucid, and utterly convinced of the righteousness of his cause.
It is believed Mr Sahiri called the print works where the brothers had taken refuge and Chérif answered the phone - he shared the interview with police before it was broadcast after Kouachi and his brother were both killed.
Transcript:
I just want to tell you that we are defenders of the Prophet. I, Chérif Kouachi, was sent by al-Qaeda in Yemen. I was over there. I was financed by Imam Anwar al-Awlaki.
- Cherif
OK. How long ago, roughly?
- Journalist
A long time ago. Before he was killed.
- Chérif
OK, so you came back to France recently.
- Journalist
No, a long time ago. I had to know how I could do things properly.
- Chérif
Are you just there with your brother?
- Journalist
That’s not your problem.
- Chérif
Do you have other people there with you?
- Journalist
That’s not your problem.
- Chérif
Do you intend to kill again in the name of Allah. Or not?
- Journalist
Have we killed other people in the last few days when you were looking for us? Go on. Tell me.
- Chérif
You killed journalists.
- Journalist
Wait. Did we kill civilians when you were looking for us in the last two days?
- Chérif
Have you killed anyone this morning?
- Journalist
We are not killers. We are defenders of the Prophet.
We are not like you. We defend the Prophet. There, there is no problem. We can kill. But we don’t kill women. It is you that kill the children of Muslims in Iraq, in Afganistan, in Syria.
That’s not us. We have a code of honour, us, in Islam.
- Chérif
But you took vengeance...
- Journalist
That’s right. We took vengeance. That’s it. You said it all. We took vengeance.
- Chérif
More: What we know about the men who attacked France this week
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